A Moment of Choice
by BrilliantLady
Summary: The four Marauders discuss their planned electives for third year, and Peter seeks advice to make his choice that will affect the future course of his life. They also earn their nickname, thanks to James. Marauder's Era, complete.


"What electives are you going to pick for third year?" Peter asked his friends, as they lazed about under the trees next to the Black Lake. "I can't decide."

"Arithmancy, Ancient Runes, and Care of Magical Creatures," said Remus promptly.

"Swot," muttered Peter.

Remus folded his hands behind his head and lay back on the grass, looking up at the vibrantly blue spring sky through the budding tree boughs. "It's a heavy burden. Someone has to be the teacher's pet and win points for Gryffindor, especially given the rate you lot lose them."

"Hey!" objected James. "Don't forget all the points I help get for Quidditch." He ruffled his hair for that fresh-off-a-broom look and struck a dramatically heroic pose, making the others laugh.

"What are you going to pick, James?"

"I don't know yet," he said, with a sly grin. "I have to see what my Lily flower picks."

Sirius let out a barking laugh at that. "Are you serious? You can't base your decision solely on what she's doing!" He looked expectantly at James, while the other two boys groaned.

"Must you?" sighed Remus.

"Come on James, don't let me down!"

James rolled his eyes and gave an exaggerated sigh. " _You're_ Sirius, and yes, I _am_ going to wait and see what Lily picks first."

Sirius threw his arm around James' shoulders and pulled him in for a hug, ruffling his hair with the other hand. "Good boy."

"Get off!" James laughed.

"Make me!"

"Like my hair needs the extra help to look messy, you berk!"

"You're right, we need to make it more beautiful," laughed Remus, as he watched the boys wrestle with each other. "Peter, let's pick some dandelion flowers. The prince of Gryffindor needs his crown."

Sirius kept James pinned while Peter and Remus made a very hasty flower chain, which they joined into a circle, then solemnly placed on James' head.

"We dub thee… Prince James."

"King James!" he objected with a laugh.

"King James the… Remus, what number King James are we up to?" asked Peter.

"I believe England has had two, but Scotland counted up to six. Since we're in Scotland, we'd better play it safe," Remus said solemnly.

"All hail King James the Seventh!" pronounced Peter.

"Let go now, Sirius!" huffed James, trying to wiggle free of Sirius' grasp.

"Okay, okay, don't get your knickers in a twist. But leave the crown alone," warned Sirius as he let his friend go. "They worked hard on that."

James smoothed out his black Hogwarts robes with a grand expression, but left his lopsided floral wreath in place on his messed up hair, which still also had tiny pieces of grass in it from wrestling with Sirius.

"Ahem," James said, very distinctly.

"Yes, your majesty?" Remus asked politely. The other boys snickered.

"You should be kneeling, peasants!" he said sternly.

The boys scrambled to line up in front of him, going down on one knee on the grass.

"Are we getting knighted?" asked Peter.

"I think we're just grovelling," said Remus thoughtfully.

"I could go for a title," Sirius said thoughtfully. "Dibs on the Black Duke."

"I'm the king! I pick the titles! Look, I've got a gold crown and everything," James whined, gesturing at the sunny yellow flowers in his hair.

"Sorry, your majesty," Sirius said with mock repentance which only lasted a few seconds before he resumed suggesting titles again. "You know what? I think you should be the King of Misrule, James."

"What's that?"

"It's part of the old Saturnalia celebrations. The King or Lord of Misrule presides over drunkenness and wild partying at Yule. They're the grand captain of mischief, and get to boss people around."

James' eyes widened in reverence. "I have found my life's calling," he intoned solemnly.

"What about us, though?" said Peter. "I want to be something cool too."

"Pirates?" suggested Sirius. "Pirates are cool."

"You can be my privateers," said James, breaking a thin branch off the nearest tree.

"What's the difference?" asked Sirius.

"When a king appoints you to be a pirate you're a privateer, it's all legitimate and you can't get in trouble. Well, not in your home country, anyway. Because you're marauding on behalf of the crown."

He stripped the young green leaves off the branch quickly, and tapped them on the shoulders with his improvised sword. "I dub thee the Marauders! Privateers under James the Seventh, the King of Misrule! Go forth and steal me some treasure, and strike terror into the hearts of uh…"

"First years?" suggested Peter.

"Slytherins?" said Sirius.

Remus shrugged. "How about first years, _and_ Slytherins, _and_ anyone who talks to Lily for more than a minute and isn't a girl. For James' sake."

"All of those things! Hoist the skull and crossbones!" cheered James.

"Long live the Marauders! They'll never take us alive!" said Sirius happily.

"Can we get off our knees now, Captain King James?" asked Peter.

James shrugged, and flopped back down onto the grass. "I suppose. Say, Remus, do you think you could tweak that map you drew up of Hogwarts in first year to make it show wherever Lily is? There's an old Divination spell that tells you someone's location, even if they're moving about, and I was thinking we could work it into the map as a permanent feature. It's such a _good_ map, and it's just going to waste now we know our way around to classes."

Remus and James got distracted chatting about the possibilities of enchanting it further, while Peter went back to stewing over his class selection.

"Sirius, what are you going to pick?"

"Care of Magical Creatures… and _Muggle Studies_ ," he said with a big wide toothy grin.

"Muggle Studies? Are you ser… sure?"

"Say it."

"No."

"Sayyyy iiit!"

Peter sighed, giving in. "Are you serious?"

Sirius snickered to himself, which set Peter off laughing at him. "You're an idiot."

"But a _hilarious_ idiot."

"You know it's going to drive your mother mad."

"Madder. She's already mad. You should've seen her face when I put up that picture of a fighter jet on my wall!" He let out a few happy barking laughs at the memory of her outrage.

"I don't think I want to do Muggle Studies. I'm not really into all that Muggle stuff like you are."

"Are you sure? There's lots of cool stuff. You could learn about motor vehicles with me!"

Peter screwed his face up. "Maybe, but I don't want to learn about the culture. That bit's dull."

Sirius shrugged lightly. It wasn't like it was that important if Peter was with him in the class or not, there were plenty of other subject choices left to consider. The comment about Muggle culture didn't bother him like it might have irritated the other boys if they'd been listening in – he heard _much_ more judgemental comments from his family about Muggles than that, all the time. "So don't do it. How about Arithmancy? Divination? Ghoul Studies?"

"Not Arithmancy - too much work. And I don't think I have the talent for Divination."

"Care of Magical Creatures? Ancient Runes? Household Charms?"

"I don't want to do Runes, and HC is just for witches, really. Maybe Creatures would be alright."

Sirius clapped him on the back. "Well there you go! Care of Magical Creatures and Ghoul Studies, by a process of elimination."

Peter smiled gratefully. "Thanks, Sirius."

"Happy to help. And we'll all have at one class together, so that's good. Here's hoping we can convince James to do Creatures as well. Friends stick together and help each other, right?"

"Always," nodded Peter.


End file.
